Team Inez (House of Garner Book 2) Read online

  Immediately I found what I wanted. It was a black lace merrywidow, which was like a teddy but didn’t have an ass or cover me between the legs. It clipped for stockings and had blood red accents. Yeah, pretty damn perfect.

  And then I found the matching robe and “accessories.” Oh boy, what a leap of faith I was taking, especially when he’d acted like nothing had happened. He’d fucked me until I’d passed out, and while I wouldn’t ever think of Kristof as a man who snuggled or liked giggling kisses, I would have thought something the next morning. But no, he’d barely looked at me like it was business as usual.

  Did he not enjoy it?

  Was I stupid to think about doing it again?

  I shook my head. It was just fun. It was like hookups I’d heard people talk about.

  I found some other options for Darius and Jaxon as well before grabbing each option in my size, not wanting to stress over colors or whatever and just get it done. I did go back and grab a flogger and tickler, thinking showing up with that would make Kristof happy. Right?

  Or too much?

  I snorted. No, not too much. I didn’t like the term he’d called me, but he really, really did. I liked “dirty princess” better, but he’d burned lava hot at calling me his dirty slut, and I’d like him burning for me again like that so… Whatever, it was just words.

  I ducked into Sephora and grabbed an array of palettes and options, thinking I could at least play with them and try some stuff out. I’d never used any of it, but we had a bunch of long drives across Canada ahead of us, and it might be fun in between some of the research reading I planned on. Which reminded me I wanted to hit a bookstore and not have them hover either.

  I didn’t want them to know everything I was researching.

  “I’m ready, and I can’t carry it all, and don’t even think of peeking,” I called out, knowing one of them would hear me. Sure enough, I blinked and Jaxon was almost to me. I waited until Darius was as well, glancing between them. “I grabbed a lot of everything because it’s here, but I’m sorting it tonight into categories.”

  “And those categories are?” Darius asked.

  “Playful reward, matching undergarments reward, sultry reward, and ‘we’re going to fuck hard and probably ruin what I’m wearing’ reward,” I answered with a smirk. “That gives you both a full range of spoiling along with items I specifically picked for you with this idea you mentioned of having date nights, as hunting and attacks aren’t dates. So, no peeking, okay?”

  “You are so fucking perfect,” Darius growled, kissing me deeply before Jaxon did the same. “What else does our princess want?”

  “The bookstore and no hovering,” I answered, giving a shrug and trying not to act like I was up to something. “I feel rushed when you guys are standing there waiting. I want to get some stuff for the long drives and maybe we can snuggle together and read.”

  “I’d like that,” they said together, making me smile since I did too. We did have that huge bed and our own room after all.

  Plus, there was something I wanted to do for Darius, winking at Vance that it was time to slip away. I’d made a deal with them that I would try and fix some video games they could play in the camper along with some computers if they got me some good CDs since Darius was so into music.

  I wasn’t the only one who got stocked up, and it was nice to take the day. Yeah, we’d only planned on the morning, but we’d had fun so really, what was the harm?

  The next two days we cleared out the rest of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, which we could drive to. The problem was we needed to get to the other island in that area we couldn’t drive to. And doing that at night was just stupid, so we were wrapping early and setting up camp while the guys discussed options and boats, which I had no useful input on.

  “You didn’t get your blood from me,” Kristof muttered as he cornered me on my way to the cargo van. “How about you have it now and I get my repeat?”

  I nodded, holding my hands out when he went to hug me and probably blur us away. “I, um, got something special.”

  “Interesting,” he purred, leaning in and brushing his lips against my ear. “Put it on, and I will tell the others we are leaving for a while.”

  I headed to the camper and found everything I’d tucked away, glad I’d showered in the late morning and we’d not done much but check out the area. I quickly pulled on the merrywidow and stockings, clipping them together before adding the choker and body chains for flare. Then I slipped on the robe and grabbed the accessories, meeting him at the door, glad when he blocked anyone else’s view.

  “You look delicious already, and I bet there’s more under that robe.”

  I nodded. “I wasn’t sure about shoes and didn’t get heels.” I blew a raspberry. “Heels and stilettos just seem crazy to have in the apocalypse.”

  “I agree, and feet are too pretty to cover up.” He grabbed me, and then we were gone. I blinked up at him, needing a moment again. “Did you bring toys?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him what had happened but flinched when I saw something dark in his eyes. Was he mad at me? I hadn’t had a chance to meet his eyes yet, so I was just seeing it now. Did he want to play to undo his bad mood?

  “They were at the lingerie place, and they looked beginner level,” I whispered.

  “Interesting.” He waved at me, clearly saying to lose the robe.

  I did, trying to figure out what was going on. Something had changed. He was changed and I wasn’t… Something was wrong.

  “Such a lovely, dirty slut,” he praised, the term sounding different as he said it this time. I didn’t like it. I watched as he yanked off his shirt and undid his jeans, pulling out his dick. “Kneel and suck it.”

  “Be nice,” I whispered as I did as he said. Something was seriously altered with him. He was almost like a different person. Yeah, we were doing the same thing, but the vibe he was giving off was all wrong.

  “Oh, I’ll be very nice to you, slut.”

  See, like that. That was different than playing. Still, I did want to play with him. I stared up at him, trying to see what was going on, like he would look at me and see me, remember the fun. Instead, I sucked him off, and it wasn’t fun this time. It was cold, rude almost, as he didn’t seem to give a shit who was sucking him as long as lips were on his dick.

  And then he spanked me. Granted, it wasn’t nearly as hard as last time, but it didn’t feel playful either. It felt like he wanted to punish me. For real as if I’d done something to upset him.

  Once that was over, he fucked me, not even looking at me or kissing me, just fucking me like I’d seen some assholes at camps use and abuse women. I was pretty sure I could have screamed he was hurting me instead of from orgasms and he wouldn’t have cared. My body did have fun, and I did get orgasms, but they were cold, without passion, and just reactionary.

  Plus, he took the name calling too far, the term feeling like a slap now especially when he’d ripped what I’d worn for him off of me. I just wanted it to be over, and I was thrilled when it was, feeling dirty almost, used and certainly not treasured.

  Well, maybe that was what I got from touching the predator I knew would bite me. Probably even if it really wasn’t my fault.

  Oh, and he still never gave me his blood. That was fine, I didn’t want it, not with how he was acting. Darius and Jaxon asked me if I was okay when I came back, still awake this time. I told them I was tired and was fine. I was tired, and I was fine, but I was also sure I didn’t want to be alone with Kristof or have him touch me again.

  That would probably go over well.

  No, I didn’t think so either.

  4

  Jaxon and Darius absolutely knew something was up with me and probably even more than I wanted them to know. The next morning they made love to me in such a sweet and ridiculously tender way I almost broke down sobbing from the way they filled my heart with how much they cared. This was what I needed. I just needed them.

&
nbsp; I’d had my moment to try something different, pet the predator, but this was what I wanted. With them was where I belonged and would make me happy.

  “Tonight we’re going to bring a mattress away from the others, light those candles you snagged, and I’m going to ride each of you under the moon,” I told them as they held me between them. “I’m going to please and fully sate my two amazing lovers, show you exactly how I feel.” Just to make my point, I drew hearts on them, adding an extra one. “I’ll wear something perfect and show you what I mean.”

  “Fuck, okay, let’s hurry and get the day over with then,” Jaxon groaned, both of them kissing me deeply.

  Yeah, this was what I wanted, feeling this loved and how we fit. Fuck the predator. I just needed to move past what had happened and put it behind me.

  Which worked really well when I had to be trapped on a boat with him. It pushed my mood, and then he ignored me. Not just acted like nothing happened, but seriously looked through me like I wasn’t there. So, yeah, my patience was very thin and my mood crap. I did my best and talked food ideas with the leopards since we had pasta sauce going in the slow cooker we’d left at camp.

  Hey, we’d found a ton of tomatoes, and I read pasta sauce froze. We had enough dried pasta we could find everywhere for carbs. They said it wasn’t as good as it had once been given it was years old, but well, again, the apocalypse wasn’t time to be picky.

  I felt Kristof’s eyes on me while we were talking and like he was hitting me with his annoyance, as I felt almost anxious. Again, that didn’t help my mood, but at least the boat ride wasn’t that long and it was comfortable enough even if it was cold. So, I was doing the best I could.

  Until we arrived at the place I needed to go to and found a survivor camp.

  Yup, I was done. They started debating and arguing on what to do, and I just left. They’d catch up or not. I’d done this without them for years, and I was just so done at the moment. I walked right up to the gate to the fence they’d put up around their camp and glanced between the greasy guys standing there.

  “I need to talk to the boss,” I told them.

  “Yeah, sure, but we need to search you for scratches or bites first,” the first guy chuckled, licking his fucking lips at me. “A real good check all over.”

  “Deeply,” the second guy muttered.

  “Yeah, no,” I snickered, shaking my head and gesturing over my shoulder, the others figuring out I was gone and joining me. “And they’re coming with.”

  “No, they’re not,” the first drawled, showing me the gun on his hip. He flinched when several guns behind me loaded. Yeah, we were armed too. “They can’t come in.”

  “They’re coming in.”

  “Just shut your mouth and get inside, you bitch,” the second grumbled, reaching to grab me.

  I snapped. I full out snapped at hearing that term. I thrust my hand up into his face, smiling when his nose snapped and blood came gushing out. I spun on my heel and landed an awesome kick to the other guy’s head, not caring if it was too hard to hit a human or not.

  It worked, and he was out before hitting the ground. I would need to thank the twins for taking me seriously that I wanted to learn moves and teaching me. Hey, it made sense to learn to be effective in a fight, as guns could break and run out of ammo, and corrupted wouldn’t be my only dangers.

  “I’m not your fucking bitch,” I sneered at the two guys, yanking open the gate without another word. I stormed into the camp, glancing around and feeling which building I needed, and then asking the next person where to find the boss.

  “So, um, you have a plan, right?” Callum asked as he fell in step with me as I stormed to where we needed to be.

  “Yes, get what I need and kick some fucking ass if people misbehave. I’m out of patience,” I grumbled as I headed to what looked to have been the city hall. I walked right in, people giving us a wide berth when they saw who was with me, and made a left to the large hall where the guy had said the boss was set up.

  Only to find him getting a blow job from two naked women as he treated them like whores he didn’t have to pay for. Yup, I was pretty sure the top of my head just popped off. It was such the wrong—and very pointed—timing for this that I absolutely didn’t care if we killed all the gang or not.

  Fuck them.

  “You got next?” he asked me as he shoved one of the women away, not even flinching as she fell and slid down the stairs near his big chair with a whimper of pain. “I could use someone new to play with.”

  I snorted. “Not happening.” I pointed behind him to the building we needed. “I need access to that building.”

  The only reason I was going through him and not just around him was they had a tank sitting in front of the place. Like an actual tank, and they had energy still, so the EMPs hadn’t reached this far. I wasn’t sure, but they were well armed, and I didn’t want to find out what else they had besides a tank.

  “Yeah, sure thing,” he snickered and then let out a full laugh, his posse laughing with him like it was the funniest thing ever. “Get your bitch ass over here and do as you’re told.”

  I sighed, letting down my hair and then throwing it back up. I shrugged. Fuck it. I let my fangs out, smirking when the guy and several others went pale. “Yeah, so it’s like that. Let’s try this again because I’m not in a good mood.” I waited until he nodded. “I need access to that building.

  “I’m on a scavenger hunt of sorts, and I have images of what to find and I know where, so I need to see what’s in there and match up to know what to get. I’m not getting into all of that, so don’t ask. You don’t matter enough to know, but I want the prize, so I’m going to be generous and offer you some options of payment. And you will want them, believe me. Got it?”

  “We’re telling people?” Darius muttered from next to me, giving me a worried look.

  I snorted. “No, but no one will believe him.” I smirked at the gang boss. “You’re not the military holding the last line to keep their country or whatever. You’re not even one of the religious settlements with a bit of everyone left that matters in their eyes to rebuild civilization by their god’s holy plan. No, you’re the thug settlement who is so far north you can tell the polar bears vampires are real.

  “You tell anyone else and they’ll think you’re nuts and take all of this. You’ve got a sweet setup here, and that would be stupid, and you’re smart enough to have found the place still with power. You’ve got a good thing going here, so be smart and just let me trade you for what I need.” I gestured to the others with me. “Because we’re just a small recovery party. You don’t want me to call the others.”

  He swallowed loudly, taking in the very scary men with me. “What you offering?”

  “Right now, not to hurt any more of you. Your guys at the gate were assholes, so they might have a few broken pieces. Let’s go see what I need here, and then we’ll make a deal, okay?”

  “Or we could—” He swallowed his comeback at whatever he saw behind me that was much scarier than me, even with my fangs. “Let’s take a walk.”

  I nodded, watching as he zipped up and put his dick away, thinking only an asshole could seriously have had this talk and his cock out the whole time. Especially when it wasn’t much and had shriveled when my fangs had come out. So yeah, good move in having it out like you’re awesome. Dipshit.

  “Get back to work,” the boss bellowed at a bunch of people as our party made our way to where we needed to go. Well, at least he was realizing he didn’t want everyone to be around to watch him give us what I wanted. Still, he had a bunch of his guys with us, and that would work well for the idea I’d come up with on the fly to try and make this work easily.

  It wasn’t like I was above lying. We didn’t have any others backing us… But he didn’t know that.

  I glanced around when we were in the museum, following the pull for what I wanted, but stopped at an old looking tapestry instead. I sent up a silent hope Aether was with me on t
he plan and wouldn’t make me ill if someone else grabbed what she wanted me to get instead of me.

  “That,” I lied, pointing at the tapestry. “That’s what I’m here for.”

  “I don’t know, that’s um, from the French, and well, pricey,” he told me, bumbling the confidence he was clearly going for.

  “Uh-huh, clearly you were an art dealer or auctioneer before the apocalypse,” I drawled. I held up my hand when he went to feed me bullshit. “I’m with all these guys. They’re mine. I’ll tell you what, if you can get through them, I’ll think about my touching you as a viable option.” I smirked when several of them growled.

  “You so much as see my princess in her undergarments and I will fucking hang you by your entrails while still alive,” Jaxon warned, his tone cold and deadly.

  I slowly looked at him, smiling when I saw he would really do it to keep me safe. “Well, aren’t you excited for our date tonight and the bumless bodysuit I’ll be wearing with stockings and garters?”

  “Fuck, garters?” he groaned, moving closer. “Yes, fuck, I want you to ride me under the moon while you drink my blood. Let me fill you in every way, My Princess.”

  “Sounds fun,” I panted, cutting my gaze to the ancient looking flute that seemed remarkably well preserved. It was the second time I’d done it, and he winked, catching on as he always seemed to. I gave him a soft kiss and turned back to the boss, knowing Jaxon would handle getting the right item. “We’ve cleared all the corrupted for miles. All over Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.”

  “There were a lot more than expected; you’re lucky you got out before the others who thought heading north would be smart,” Darius commented, getting where I was going with this.

  “So, take that as a sign of good faith, but we have a few options,” I told the boss. “Either you’re smart with me now and we make a deal, or we come back and snag it right out from under you, or I give the cousins some fun and they can hunt you until this whole place is bathed with blood.”